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Syringe Pumps for Three Hospices in Lithuania
09/15/2017

The Kazickas Family Foundation partnered with The Tiltas Trust to help purchase T34 Ambulatory Syringe Pumps for three hospices in Lithuania. Vilnius Vilkpede Hospital, Kaunas Slaugos Hospital and Klaidepa University Hospital received portable, battery operated devices that deliver medication by continuous subcutaneous infusion when the oral route cannot be used for a patient and are of particular use in palliative care providing relief from the symptoms and stress at the end of person’s life.


Dr. Phillip Lomax from St. Ann's Hospice in Manchester UK shared his expertise how to operate such pumps with Dr. Rasa Dagiene from Klaipeda University Hospital and will continue to help her and her colleagues in Lithuania as they climb the T34 learning-curve.

 

This initiative started with The Tiltas Trust, charity registered in the United Kingdom. TTT was the brainchild of Michael Peart, the first UK Ambassador to Lithuania following the 1991 restoration of independence . In 1995 Tom Macan succeeded him as the second Ambassador. Michael Peart was chairman of the Trust from its inception until his untimely death in 2015.

 

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the UK Government established the Know-How Fund for Central and Eastern Europe (KHF). Using the KHF (which was able to respond quickly to requests) two Ambassadors were able to meet requests from the Lithuanian side for UK experts to work alongside local counterparts to devise business plans or meet training needs. Projects ranged from establishing the Public Service Language Centre to developing training for the financial sector to sorting out the Lithuanian fishing fleet. TTT tries, on a much smaller scale, to facilitate a similar traffic, sometimes now in both directions, where they can identify needs that can be met.

 
Much of their early work was on Cancer Support. It was clear that much good work was being done in Lithuania, but all in separate cells with little cross-fertilisation. TTT was able to persuade Macmillan (the UK's leading cancer-support charity) to lend them a recently-retired senior manager to carry out a national survey. This has led to ongoing, grassroots cooperation between CS groups in both countries and to the establishment of POLA (the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Coalition) which is becoming an increasingly important and influential voice on the part of cancer patients and their families/friends.
 
The Tiltas Trust have also become involved in the Palliative Care (PC) sector, supporting the Lithuanian Palliative medicine Association (LPMA) and exchanges between hospices and similar organizations. TTT funded a visit in 2016 by Philip Lomax and Sian Burgess of St Ann's Hospice to talk at the LPMA's annual conference and visit various institutions.

 

TTT also partnered with Socialiniai Meno Projektai (SMP), tiny Lithuanian not-for-profit working on a range of arts-for-health issues and, more recently, the role that the arts can play in getting the homeless and disadvantaged back into society. Another TTT project at an early stage is riding therapy for the disabled at the Rumsiskes Museum. The UK's Riding for the Disabled (RDA) is a world-leader in this field and they have facilitated visits in both directions over the last twelve months.

 

 

Photo: we:train

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